Breaking News!

I'm breaking again from the formal wear series because I have some news! :) Hang on to your socks! :D

I started this week off by celebrating my birthday! My mom loves this picture and wished me a "berry" Happy Birthday...

 

And for my birthday surprise, I'm pleased to announce there is going to be a Mr. Farm Girl Teacher! :D My boyfriend of three years proposed to me recently and I am thrilled to know I'll be spending the remainder of my life with my other half. We met in middle school and have been friends for years, I truly feel that God made us for each other and I can't wait to spend my life with him!

“A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment.”

 

(Bonus points if you can name the book before you reach then end of this post!)

Y'all know me, so you probably know I've already planned our wedding on Pinterest (along with an imaginary house, children, sewing room, etc. haha!) but I will be sharing photos of planning and preparations after we set a date and get closer to time. (Don't get too crazy, there is not a date set, but I promise it will be a while from now....I need time to knit a dress! KIDDING!)

I also recently purchased a new car! My first car was a trusty 1993 Toyota I bought in high school, but alas, I have outgrown it and am proud to say I have upgraded to a 2015 Mazda 6 that I am LOVING. It has back doors AND cupholders, technology these days! If you know my family personally, you also know we have a small obsession with naming our vehicles so I've been putting lots and LOTS of thought into finding the perfect name for my Mazda. (This is serious business, people!)

 After much deliberation, I have officially named my car! I was rereading one of my favorites, Pride and Prejudice, when I test drove the car and on the day I picked it up, so I have been toying with character names from the book. In honor of finding my "Mr. Darcy" my car is "Mrs. Darcy." Although I don't care much for the 2005 movie, the "Mrs. Darcy" ending was it's saving grace.

“I am the happiest creature in the world. Perhaps other people have said so before, but not one with such justice. I am happier even than Jane; she only smiles, I laugh.”  

  

But, MOST IMPORTANTLY (and this really is the most important!) my family and I celebrated my little sister's high school graduation this weekend! So proud of her, she is the Jane to my Lizzy! (I am REALLY channeling Pride and Prejudice today!)

I am so proud of the person my sister has become. She is caring, funny, hardworking, and she's become a leader that knows how to make truly good decisions! She's accomplished quite a lot in the last 18 years and I know the journey is just beginning! Of course, by Mr. Darcy's standards, accomplished ladies are hard to come by.. ;)

As of right now, she plans to get her AA at a local community college, before going to a state college to begin their Animal Science program. (Y'all seriously have no idea how accurately this fits her personality!) 

My mom made an awesome slideshow presentation with pictures from our childhood set to music that fits (she sorted through 18 THOUSAND pictures, go mom!) and we really got to see how wonderfully well-rounded Miranda is. 

 

 She has accomplished so many things and (almost) always had a smile on her face doing it! I can't wait to see what the next chapter has in store for her!

 

I know she sounds perfect but trust me...she's not, you see, she has this REALLY annoying habit of being taller than me.... :)

WARNING: Lame joke alert:

We're so hot, we have to wear shades! (Don't hate, I warned you!)

 

I hope your summer has been as wonderful as mine has so far! Stay tuned! :) 

~Soon-to-be-Mrs. Farm Girl Teacher 

Formal Wear: Perfect Gathers

I'm so excited about this formal wear series, inspired by my experience sewing my sister's prom dress! Check it out, here, if you haven't seen it yet. Please let me know if you have any special requests. :)

I know, I took another hiatus. Unfortunately, when cleaning out my classroom on the last day of school, I broke the SD card all my pictures were saved on. :( Most of the really important ones were saved on my computer, but I lost a lot of the tutorial ones I took for this blog and had to redo them. Hopefully, I am back on track. I will be finishing up this series soon, and posting a new crochet pattern before too long! :) 

Without further ado, I present my favorite way to gather! I probably didn't invent this, but I use it constantly and share it with as many people as I can, I like it THAT much! :)

Why "gather?"
Gathers are often used to add volume in the form of ruffles to a skirt. The result is typically a bit more gentle than what would result from pleating. You may also see it on a dust ruffle for a bed, or in the 'poofy' sleeves of old-style dresses. (Anne of Green Gables, anyone?) Gathers may barely be noticeable (sometimes called ease stitching on more modern sleeves), or it may be more severe, like in a skirt.

What makes this method better?
 Another popular way to gather involves a loose machine basted stitch and then tugging on the bottom thread. While this method does work, I personally kind of hate it. I always break a thread and it doesn't work for the large gathers I typically use. I will use the basting method to do the ease stitching part of a sleeve, but that's about it. For Miranda's dress, I had to gather a HUGE amount of fabric into very tight gathers and this technique was a lifesaver! 

Materials:
 You'll need your fabric (obviously), any color crochet thread (I think this is size 10 and can be found near the yarn. Regular yarn may work too, but it's a bit too flimsy for me. Regular thread is too weak.), and finally your presser foot. I love to use this foot, which my machine calls a 'braiding foot.' If you have a piping foot, it would work as well. That being said, I used a regular, straight-stitch foot for a long time, and while it's just as effective, the braiding foot is awesome because I don't have to worry at all about accidentally stitching through the crochet thread.

The foot has a small hole in the front the crochet thread fits through and the bottom of the foot has a groove that allows the foot to sit flush against the fabric while still sewing over the thread. 

I seriously suggest investing in this if you know you'll be completing a project with a ton of gathering. For everyday, occasional stuff, you can survive with the regular foot, I did, forever. :)

Steps:
1. Get your machine prepared. If you plan on ripping out the sewing thread, choose a contrast color, if you don't mind leaving it in (I always do) choose a color that matches your fabric. The crochet thread will always be ripped out, so it doesn't matter too much what color you use. You'll be setting your machine on a zig zag stitch just wide enough to stitch over the crochet thread. Once your width is set, match the length. (My width is set to about 2.5, so I matched the length to about 2.5 as well.) If you're using a regular presser foot, you may want to set the width just a bit wider to make sure you don't accidentally stitch onto the thread.

2. Stitch, DO NOT stitch over the crochet thread. (This is easy with the braiding foot, be more careful if you're using a regular foot.)

3. Cut your thread and begin sliding the fabric up and down on the crochet thread. It reminds me of the way you'd move curtains up and down a curtain rod. 

4. Use a straight stitch to secure the gather the way you like, or go ahead and attach it to the rest of the project. When you're finished, you should be able to just pull the crochet thread out completely. Ripping out the zig zag stitch is optional, I almost never bother, it's not noticeable at all.

Note: For Miranda's dress, I attached the under and over skirt together by straight stitching it onto a piece of 2 inch ribbon the same length as the bodice.  The ribbon helped hold it steady and keep it at the correct length, I then attached the whole thing to the bodice. I pulled out the crochet thread, but left the ribbon. At that point, it was too hard to rip out. :)

Voila! Step back and admire those beautiful gathers! :)

~Farm Girl Teacher

P.S. I recently found a new blog I am seriously IN LOVE with. This blogger recreates mouth watering foods from her favorite books. If you love to read and love to eat, this blog is for you! (and if you don't love those things, I will be very disappointed in you!) Seriously, head over there and explore, you'll walk away inspired!